NOPD: woman sexually assaulted by cab driver

New Orleans, La. - Police Chief Ronal Serpas has a message for New Orleans cab drivers.

"Cab drivers are good, professional, hard-working people," he says. "You know who this guy is. You know who he is. Tell him to turn himself in. We're coming to get him."

Police are looking for a cab driver suspected of raping a female passenger as he drove her home.

Detectives released a composite sketch of the cabbie, described as a Middle Eastern man about 40 years old, standing 5-feet-9 with a muscular build.

Serpas believes the suspect works for a local taxi company. "We're working closely with the Taxi Cab Bureau right now to determine if that can give us any leads or help us in any way. And that would include GPS, cameras and the like," says Serpas.

Investigators say a 20-year old woman hailed a cab on Tchoupitoulas early Thursday morning. She passed out during the drive and says she awoke to the driver sexually assaulting her.

Police say the incident happened in the 7600 block of Plum Street.

"He then drove her to a few blocks away from her requested location and let her out of the cab," says Serpas. "The victim, very smartly, went to a medical facility for an examination and notified the police immediately."

Plum Street is home to many students from Loyola and Tulane universities. Junior Christine Johnson got an email alert from Loyola warning her about the rape.

"It's really scary that this girl was using a cab to try to be safe and put her trust in this man and that was taken advantage of," she says. Johnson and her roommate sometimes take taxis home after a night out.

Mar Trujillo says she never considered something like this could happen. "That's why we take a cab home, is so we're not walking alone at night," she says.

The roommates say this incident reminds them to travel in groups and always be aware of their surroundings.